Werribee RSL president Daryl Ryan is proud to commemorate Remembrance Day every year. 72839 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Alesha Capone
AT THE age of 21, Daryl Ryan was fighting in the Vietnam War alongside other young Australians in the 9th Infantry Battalion.
“When a man landed on the moon, we were out in the jungle,” he said.
Nowadays, he has been the president of the Werribee RSL for around 26 years, after joining during 1971.
He was made a life member of the RSL in 1987 and has received a meritorious medal for services to the league.
Mr Ryan and many other members of the Werribee RSL will be celebrating Remembrance Day on Friday.
The annual day marks the anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I and Australians observe one minute silence at 11am on 11 November, in memory of those have who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts.
“Anzac Day and Remembrance Day are different days but commemorate virtually the same thing – you remember the sacrifices the soldiers made,” Mr Ryan said,
“On Remembrance Day, you remember and reflect on all your mates killed who never got the chance to come home and have a family,” he said.
He returned from Vietnam after getting injured by a mine, having served five-and-a-half-months.
“I’ve made some wonderful friendships here,” Mr Ryan said of his time with the RSL.
“I think it’s the friendships you make, being with other veterans, and the differences you discover talking and listening to WWII veterans and the difference between what we experienced in Vietnam and WWII”
Along with two other Werribee RSL members, he travels to schools around Wyndham to talk about his experience in Vietnam.
“I’ve been doing it for 20-odd years or more,” he said.
“We get as much out of it as what the kids do. We don’t tell them any weird and wonderful tales, we just tell it like it is.”
The Werribee RSL’s Remembrance Day commemoration will be at the cenotaph in Station Place, Werribee on Friday 11 November at 10.45am.
